Unterman tips: 'Bombay Kitchen,' La Cocina

Wondering whatto get Mom for Mother's Day? I recommend Niloufer Ichaporia King’s “My Bombay Kitchen” (University of California Press, $27.50), a lush memoir in the form of a cookbook, by a talented writer and inspired cook who grew up in a Parsi household in Bombay.

With pervading wit and droll sense of humor, she tells us what it means to be part of the 3,000-year-old Parsi culture, and how this plays out in a crazy amalgam of India and the West.

The irresistible voice in “My Bombay Kitchen,” supported by black-and-white family photos and impish line drawings by King's husband, a research biochemist at UC Berkeley, contextualizes spectacular recipes that take you on a journey whether you actually prepare them or not — but you can with King’s instructions.

She brings alive culinary traditions, passed on through generations of beloved household cooks, mothers and grandmothers.

This cooking may soon disappear. UNESCO projects that only 25,000 Parsis may exist in the world by 2020 — one more reason to grab this extraordinary book and start cooking.

A CLASS THAT SUPPORTS MOMS

La Cocina, a nonprofit incubator kitchen in the Mission that helps women start and grow culinary businesses, is offering a Chilean cooking class taught by Guisell Osorio, a success story from the projects. Afterward, participants sit down to dinner paired with Chilean wines. The class is from 6 to 9 p.m. May 16 at La Cocina, 2948 Folsom St. The donation is $100.